“Maddie’s birthday.”
“June fourteenth.”
“Same day as Poppy’s.”
“She turned eight in a hospital bed with tubes in her arms.”
“With a cupcake from the cafeteria.”
“And her mom stuck at a diner, pouring coffee.”
“She asked me to stay until she fell asleep.”
“She said I was her lucky doctor.”
“I’m the reason she was in that bed.”
“How was I supposed to walk out?”
I sat down across from him.
I didn’t have anything left to stand on.
“You could have called me,” I said.
“You could have said, Laur, there’s a little girl who needs me.”
“I would have brought Poppy’s cake to that hospital.”
“I would have brought balloons.”
“I would have made it a party for both of them.”
He stared at me.
“You would have,” he said slowly.
“You really would have.”
“Of course I would have.”
“You never let me,” I said.
“That’s the whole thing, Nate.”
